VeggieMarket.OrgREI Proposal

Overview

Problem

• You can’t get produce this good from far away

• Distribution companies ship from far away

• Bypassing the distributor is expensive and annoying

Opportunity

• Crowd-Source supply and demand

• Make the process painless

Problem/Opportunity

Farmers…

• Earn higher margin

• May increase production by up to 50%

• Gain access to aggregated local demand

Retailers…

• Gain access to aggregated local supply

• Enjoy painless e-commerce procurement

Strategic Advantages

VeggieAuction will…

• Create a minimum viable product within 2 weeks of funding

• Create a system of “wrap around supports,” replacing distributor

• Build a streamlined and intuitive system that makes f2b accessible

• Open new markets for CT farmers and gardeners

• Improve the quality and price of wholesale food

How we will use your funding

Competition

Direct Competition

• FoodShedExchange

• Farmer Co-Ops, Food Hubs

Indirect Competition

• Whole Foods

• Wal-Mart

• Wholesale food hubs

• Niche Distributors

• Farmstr

• Good Eggs

Business Model

VA provides e-commerce

solutions

Farmers list produce

Retailers purchase produce

VA takes a 4.5% fee

per transaction

VeggieAuction currently…

• Is finishing “front end development”

• Has managed dozens of local interviews and years of research

• Has 3 MA/CT farms ready to upload production(including my own)

• Won $2500 in seed funding through the Thomas J. & Bette Wolff Family Program in Entrepreneurship

Status and Milestones

Thank You!Please feel free to look through the appendix!

Micro Market Demand

Micro Market Demand, by the Numbers

Macro Market Opportunity

“Local food is a rapidly growing market opportunity for American agriculture…Local food is a multibillion-dollar market and growing” -USDA

Retailers

– “Local procurement is a fast-growing category with tremendous promise, and marketers that are aware of the many dynamics at play can generate significant revenues” Mintel Reports

– Barriers to entry include capacity constraints, lack of reliable distribution

Retailers, Needs by the Numbers

Produce, Needs by the Numbers

ProducersSales Channels Small (sub 50 in

sales)Medium (50 to 250 in sales)

Large (250k or more)

All

Number of Farms with Local Food Sales

86,728 15,202 5,301 107,229

Share of all farms with local sales

80.90% 14.20% 4.90% 100.00%

Local Food Sales

Marketed Through All Channels

11.10% 19.10% 69.80% $4.8billion

Direct to consumer only 33.70% 38.90% 27.40% $.9billion

Intermediated Only 3.50% 3.60% 92.90% $2.7billion

Both 11.70% 39.50% 48.80% $1.2 billion

Forecast

Notes Numbers

Growers Recruited 300Sales potential per grower 25000% of grower’s vegetables listed 0.075% of listed vegetables sold 0.85Sales transacted 478125VeggieAuction Fee 0.06VeggieAuction Revenue 28687Less Fixed Costs (@3000) 25687VeggieAuction Operating Revenue 25687

Legal Risk

• Gardeners, farmers, and meat producers self regulate.

• Government momentum behind local food, stemming USDA and other agencies, as well as provisions from the 2008 farm bill, etc.

• A change in the regulatory or governmental climate could significantly impact VM partnering opportunities and funding sources.

Innovation Touch Points• Cutting out the distributor is called “wholesale bypass,”

and according to IbisWorld, wholesale bypass represents the #1 threat to distributor revenue in 2014

• This food distribution system is significantly more efficient than a traditional “centralized system” with a wholesale distributor

• Putting retailers and producers in the same space will lead to reduced spoilage on both sides, and reduced lead-times, resulting in a better bottom line, and better produce for the end consumer

• This system favors small farms and large gardens with nearby urban-centers. This system opens up the f2b marketing channel to CT and MA farms and gardens with few sales options